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R.F. Kuang, the New York Times bestselling author of Babel, Yellowface and the Poppy War trilogy, will discuss her new novel, Katabasis, on Sunday, Aug. 31, at Vanderbilt University. The conversation, which begins at 5 p.m. in Langford Auditorium, is hosted by the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries in collaboration with Parnassus Books. The doors to Langford Auditorium will open at 4:30 p.m.
Tickets for the event are $38.50 each and include one general admission seat and a pre-signed copy of Katabasis, to be released by HarperCollins on Aug. 26. Following the talk, Kuang will be available to personalize messages in copies of Katabasis or another title, with a limit of one personalization per person. No posed photos with the author will be allowed in the signing line, though candid photos are permitted.
“Katabasis” is a term from the Ancient Greek that refers to a hero’s descent into the underworld. Kuang’s latest book is described as a dark academia fantasy, “Dante’s Inferno meets Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi,” in which “two graduate students must put aside their rivalry and journey to Hell to save their professor’s soul—perhaps at the cost of their own.”
Kuang’s novel Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times Best Seller list in 2022. Her 2023 book Yellowface, also a bestseller, has been optioned for the screen by Lionsgate Television. She has received the Nebula, Locus, Crawford and British Book awards for her work.
Kuang was named to the TIME100 Next list in 2023 and to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 class of 2024. A Marshall Scholar, she holds a master of philosophy in Chinese studies from Cambridge University and a master of science in contemporary Chinese studies from Oxford University. Kuang is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in East Asian languages and literatures from Yale University, where she researches Sinophone and Asian American literature.
Parking for the Aug. 31 event will be available in the 25th Avenue Garage at 2401 Highland Ave. Please access the garage using the Highland Avenue entrance.
